As Ron Burgundy would say, “I am a man! A man who invented the wheel and fire!”
And then he would go into some nonsensical rant about the size of women’s brains, but I am not going to do that. Stating that I am a man is supposed to somehow reaffirm my masculinity right before I go on to talk about The Holiday, which is set to be released on Friday. It stars Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. During this review I will use such emasculating words as “cute” and “charming” and I may also refer to Jack Black as “adorable”. But setting these atrocities of manhood aside, I would like to actually talk about the movie.
If you have seen the trailer for The Holiday, you are already thinking that it is just another chick flick released just in time to remind all of those without love in their life that it is Christmas and they are doomed to be alone. It is also just in time to remind guys like me that it is Christmas and I do have someone in my life – whom I have yet to get any sort of gift. But this movie, while it does take place during Christmas, is less about the holidays and more about taking a holiday from your life, and how it can ultimately save you from yourself.
Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet play two women on the opposite ends of the world (Los Angeles and London) who are alike in one particular way – they are both losers in love. Amanda (Diaz) is a neurotic and sometimes over the top movie trailer producer who throws out her boyfriend (Ed Burns) who cheated on her because he was sexually starved. Iris (Winslet) is a compassionate and intelligent journalist who has just found out that the man she has been hopelessly in love with for years is getting engaged to another woman. Both women need a break from their lives, and they very quaintly meet online to arrange an exchange of their lives houses for two weeks.
Hell-bent on relaxing and not finding any men, the two women do just that – find some great guys in their new vicinities that breathe a bit of fresh air into their chilling love lives. Jude Law plays Iris’ brother, who comes drunk-knocking on Amanda’s door and then woos her with his slurring charm. It is a character, for Law that is a bit different than what we have seen from him in the past. He brings back a bit of the coyness that we saw in Closer, with a dash of fun. Ladies will enjoy the immense screen time that he gets, and the various stages of undress that he finds himself in throughout the film.
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